


Fed Up

by Rose711



Category: Big Brother RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 07:37:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4952005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose711/pseuds/Rose711
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the outside it doesn't seem as though Zach has changed, but he is starting to realize that he has.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fed Up

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone has opinions on what Zach should do regarding the company he keeps, but from the outside he seems to be in a somewhat similar situation to me (realizing your friends aren't actually great friends), so his actions mirror my own in this story.

_What the fuck?!_ Zach thought to himself. He was staring at his phone, which was open to Erik’s snapchat. _Did one of my best friends really just post a video where I’m called the f word and place a corn-on-the-cob suggestively near my mouth?_

The girl standing next to him started laughing and yelled to Erik, who was only a few feet away, “Your snap stories are the best!” Zach glared at her, but all she said was “What? He’s funny!” while giggling with her friends. She wasn’t laughing _at_ Zach, and that may have pissed him off even more.

Zach shoved his phone in his pocket and marched over to Erik.

“What the fuck, dude? Really?!” Zach was fuming, but all Erik did was laugh.

“Chill, bro, it’s fine! It’s just a joke, and everyone knows that.”

“Why would you use that word, let alone do that? And then why would you post it publicly?!”

“Hey, I didn’t say the word, Michelle did.”

Zach glared at Michelle - who was still standing next to Erik - with such hatred that she looked down to the floor, mumbled incoherently and walked away.

“I don’t fucking care if she said it. You watched it, added a fucking corn-on-the-cob and then posted it!” Zach hissed after turning his attention back to Erik.

“Fine, I’m...”

Zach quickly cut him off. “Whatever. I’m going outside.”

Zach knew Erik was about to apologize but he didn’t want to hear it. They had many variations of this conversation and he no longer believed or wanted Erik’s half-assed apologies.

Zach walked into the night air and just stood there. He looked up at the stars wondering why he thought it would be a good idea to spend the night in Miami before driving up to Gainesville the next day.  _Because you haven’t seen your friends in a while_ , he reminded himself. Zach snorted.  _Friends._

Zach sighed and pulled out his phone. He had been texting and snapping with Frankie all night and the memory brought a smile to his face. In fact, he was about to send a snap to Frankie when he saw the notification from Erik’s account. And just like that the smile disappeared.

He needed to vent, and Frankie was one of the only people he trusted.

Text message from Zach: Sometimes I hate my friends.

Text message from Frankie: I’m sorry, babe. {sad face emoji}

Text message from Zach: I just don’t understand how people can act a certain way sometimes, how they think it’s okay.

Zach didn’t want to specifically mention the snap and his homophobic friends; he didn’t want to hurt Frankie in any way.

Text message from Frankie: Some people don’t know better and you have to educate them. But sometimes that is easier said than done…

Frankie had told him that several times in the past, and Zach had tried, he really had. But he usually had to resort to telling himself that you can’t fix everything, especially someone’s viewpoints and habits, in one night. And he’d been telling himself that for over a year now.

Text message from Zach: Yeah, you’re right, you’re always right. That’s one of the reasons why I love you. {heart emoji}

Text message from Frankie: Yeah? You want to tell me the other reasons? {winky face emoji}

Zach giggled and relaxed. Frankie had this way of supporting him and telling him what he needed to hear without pushing him.

Text message from Zach: Of course, daddy {winky face emoji}. But I should probably go back inside and you need to relax on your amazing Arizona getaway.

Text message from Frankie: Okay, babe. Have fun at the game tomorrow and talk to you soon. I love you.

Text message from Zach: I love you, too, Frankie.

Zach shoved the phone back in his pocket and turned toward the apartment building. He always felt better after talking to Frankie, no matter how brief the conversation was or how many times they had had it before.

_Maybe I’m being too sensitive_ , Zach thought. He shook himself out of that thought. He felt degraded by the comment and video, and he had a right to feel that way.

He started walking to the apartment building. He decided that he wouldn’t bring it up again tonight, but he wouldn’t necessarily sweep it under the rug either. He would give his friends another chance and hope that they learned something. Again.

 

_______

 

Zach woke up the next morning with only a slight hangover. The rest of the evening had been without incident, and he even managed to have a little fun, laughing and talking to a few girls he knew from school.

He grabbed a water and flipped on SportsCenter to see what they were saying about tonight’s game. Ole Miss was obviously favored due to their ranking, but the anchors thought that Florida could give them a run for their money. He hoped the positivity he felt would last.

 

________

 

The five hour ride up to Gainesville was uneventful, which was a good thing since there were five guys squished into a compact car. Music blared while the guys retold college stories and reminisced about their frat. They were all looking forward to returning to their old stomping grounds.

Once they arrived in Gainesville they made their way to the frat. As soon as they pulled up out front, Zach couldn’t help but think of what a shitshow it had become since the last time he was there. Sure it seemed as though half the university was there pregaming, but it felt different. Walking around the front yard Zach noticed that there was trash everywhere, the front door was off its hinges and everyone seemed to be yelling. Erik pulled him out of his thoughts, handed him a beer and dragged him to a group of girls that had to be freshmen.

After spending a couple hours fending away girls, sending numerous texts to Frankie and downing a few beers, the entire group headed to the stadium. The Swamp was packed and despite some annoyance Zach felt, he was glad that he decided to go to the game.

By halftime the Gators had a four score lead on the Rebels. Zach couldn’t believe that Florida’s defense held the number 3 team in the country scoreless and like every other fan in the Swamp, he was over the moon. Music filled the stadium and the dance cam hit Zach and his friends while they laughed hysterically trying to do the whip.

As halftime was winding down, “Bang Bang” came through the stadium speakers. Zach looked around and realized that thousands of people were singing along to his boyfriend’s sister (and Nicki Minaj and Jessie J, but still). Zach smiled proudly as he texted Frankie his excitement.

The smile quickly faded from Zach’s face, though, when Erik clapped him on the back.

“Dude, it’s your sister-in-law! You still gotta hook me up with her one day,” Erik yelled excitedly. Zach just stared at him with a disgusted look. “What? She’s hot and something good has to come from whatever you have with that guy.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Zach yelled exasperated. He was fed up.

“What!” Erik said, either not realizing or not caring that his friend was offended. “She  _is_ hot, even you have to be able to see that.”

A couple of their friends laughed at the exchange and Zach groaned. He looked at Erik and felt the uncontrollable need to punch him. But he refrained. Somehow.

Zach turned his attention back to the field as Florida kicked off to start the third quarter noticing one of his friends a couple rows down. He jumped the bleachers and hung out with him for the rest of the game.

_______

 

After the game the Swamp was electric. It was the biggest win for the program in several years, and that fact wasn’t lost on anyone. Zach celebrated with Erik and his other friends in the stands before heading back to the frat house to continue the party.

On the walk over to the frat Zach received a text from Cody congratulating him on the win. After texting with him for several minutes, Zach realized that that was the best conversation he had had in over a week (that wasn’t with Frankie or his brother) and the first time that he got through an entire conversation without feeling annoyed or attacked.

Zach spent about a half hour walking around the shitshow he used to know as his frat. He couldn’t believe how different the house was, and the people in the house. And it had only been a year and a half. The behavior, and language, of everyone inside stunned him.

As Zach tried to find someone he could talk to without feeling disgusting or disgusted, he realized that the house wasn’t different, he was different. He had changed. He had certainly become more educated on tolerance and sensitivity the past year and he was tuned to notice things of that nature. When he lived in the house, he wondered, was he really that ignorant? The thought frightened him.

Zach took his phone out as he walked toward the door and called Frankie.

“Hi!” Frankie answered enthusiastically. “How was the game?! I saw you guys won, congratulations!”

“Thanks, and it was a good game,” Zach said, but he wanted to cut to the chase. “I’m just so fed up,” he spit out, anger, annoyance and pain evident.

“About what, babe?”

Music thumped through the house and people spilled onto the front lawn. Zach made his way through them to the road and sat down on the curb.

“Babe?... Zach?”

Zach stayed silent, his elbows resting on his knees. He listened to Frankie breathe on the other end of the line and looked up at the stars.

“Can you see the stars?” Zach asked dreamily.

“Yeah,” Frankie answered happily.

“Me too,” Zach said with a goofy smile.

They sat silently for another minute looking up at the stars together.

Zach sighed before he spoke again.

“Last summer was the first time that I was able to be myself,” Zach admitted while Frankie gave him the space to say what he needed to. “I knew America was watching but I didn’t care. I couldn’t put on an act 24 hours a day for three months so I decided to be myself – a confused, sarcastic Florida frat boy. And you know what? You all were okay with it, although I did annoy a couple people a bit too much. But I wasn’t thinking of what others thought of me, at least not as much as I am now.”

“Everyone is pulling me in separate directions,” Zach continued. He sounded tired more than annoyed or angry. “My parents want me to do one thing; Erik and Logan and my friends want me to do another; the fans have their own ideas as do you. I can’t make everyone happy.”

“I’m just not sure I can do this anymore. I am so fed up, I feel like I am going to snap or break.”

Frankie had been silent listening to Zach rant while his heart clenched. When Zach hurt, he hurt. And when Zach hurt thousands of miles away from him, he hurt more.

“You need to be yourself, that’s all you can do,” Frankie said confidently as tears formed in his eyes. Why couldn’t he just protect him from everything? “You shouldn’t worry about what other people want from you or for you. Me included.”

“But I care about what they think,” Zach said quietly. “I care about what you think.”

“I just want you to be happy. That’s it.”

“You make me happy,” Zach answered quickly, smiling.

They stayed silent for a bit when Frankie reluctantly brought up the thing that sparked Zach’s rant.

“I saw the snap.”

“I can’t drop my friends,” Zach said quickly, shocking both men. He had been thinking about it all weekend, how his Florida support system consisted of homophobic, bigoted jerks. The thought that he may be better off without them had crossed his mind, but he pushed it away. They had all been through so much together and the thought of losing them was heart-wrenching.

Zach sniffled and Frankie knew exactly what Zach was thinking. They may have only known each other for a year, but they knew each other better than anyone else in their lives.

“Sweetheart,” Frankie said soothingly, “I don’t want you hurting.” Frankie didn’t continue his thought. He knew what he wanted to tell Zach – that these guys were the ones hurting him - but he wasn't about to do that. Zach needed to figure out what to do on his own.

Zach took a deep breath.

“I’ve been thinking lately and I think I know what I want, what kind of life I want,” Zach quietly admitted. “I just need to figure out how to get there and then gather the courage to do it.”

“I love you,” Frankie said proudly.

“I love you, too, babe,” Zach said, his voice full of relief at having finally admitting everything out loud.

Zach heard a loud bang and turned to make sure the house was still standing. Other than the massive amount of people, everything seemed fine; he didn’t feel like saving anyone besides himself tonight.

Zach groaned. “I’m thinking I may rent a car and drive back tonight. Going back into that house is not high on my list of priorities right now.” He sighed sadly and looked up at the stars. He knew that if he went home he would be bombarded with questions from his parents and he didn’t really want to face that. He knew his mom followed Erik on snapchat, because she did stuff like that, but he also knew that she would probably see it as a joke.

“I’m not sure you’ll be able to find a place to rent you a car this late. And you’ve been drinking.” Frankie was always the voice of reason. He was so smart. “There has to be a hotel around campus, go see if they have an extra room, then you can rent a car tomorrow.”

“Ugh, I really didn’t want to spend money on a hotel. But, yeah, you’re right,” Zach said through a smile before he turned serious again. “It’s weird. I don’t really have anywhere I  _want_ to go.”

Frankie’s heart broke knowing why Zach felt that way.

“Babe, you always have a place to stay with me and my family,” Frankie said slowly. “You know my mom always says that we don’t allow friends to stay where they aren’t welcome or accepted. You just have to show up on my doorstep or Nonna’s doorstep and you will have a home.”

Zach smiled and felt his heart swell. Frankie always knew what he needed to hear. How did he get so lucky?

As they talked, Zach remembered a cheap hotel about a mile away. He started the trek towards it while laughing hysterically at Frankie’s stories.

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I don't like writing Zach and Frankie actually together, like in a room together, and apparently I like angst and drama. Which is ironic because I wrote this to try to get away from all the recent fandom drama. Which is also why it's hastily written.
> 
> Oh, also I made up a random girls name. If Zach knows a Michelle it is a pure coincidence.


End file.
